COLUMN: Jane Binnion column

Jane Binnion

Published:09:24Sunday 12 October 2014

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My social media gaff of the week award has to go to Donald Trump, whose vanity got the better of him.

He re-tweeted a photograph of the serial killers the Wests, after comedian Philip Bradbury tweeted him, using an alias, saying “My parents who passed away always said you were big inspiration. Can you pls RT for their memory?”

This was then followed by a range of copy cat tweets with pictures including Darth Vader and Stalin.

I know many people are so nervous of something similar happening to them.

We all make mistakes, but just taking a moment to think before you share really helps.

My tips for Donald...

*Check the name and bio’ of the person talking to you.

There was a BIG clue in this guys twitter name.

*If you make a boo-boo deal with it swiftly and with humility.

Donald Trump left it up for 40 minutes, allowing lots of sharing, and then he tweeted that he is thinking of suing! Hmmm.

The other news is that my offspring was 16 at the weekend, just one month younger than Google.

That’s a generation that have grown up with access to information at the touch of a screen.

Instagram and Snapchat are the preferred means of communication, phones are just for talking to parents, and YouTube and iplayer trump the TV.

I like how technically at ease they are and it’s interesting to have a generation that are mostly more competent than their parents.

So knowing this is a part of their day to day life, I’m left wondering why are there still so few girls going into computer science and digital innovation?

The UK is seriously behind the rest of Europe when it comes to women and tech.

Of all the web developers I know, only two of them are female.

It’s been identified that our future growth is limited by a chronic shortage of skills and a lack of women in tech.

This gap is bad for the UK economy, not just women.

So what can we do to encourage this generation of digi-competent young women into these areas?

Personally, for starters I’d like to see a lot more positive role models in schools and the media.